What has happened is that Rip, like Ben, CB, Sheed have a sense of entitlement.

Deal with it folks. The team has changed personality from the moment they came back after winning a championship.

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Started last year with Ben and continues. You can get a good sense of how arrogant this team has become by the way they are playing at home. Not much continuous energy on defense, offensive rebounds (which takes excessive amounts of energy) is lacking, offensive movement has settled on jump shots and they no longer own the fourth quarter.

Too much talent riding on complacency and turning it on a pin-wheel during the playoffs hoping for 60 foot miracle shots won't win you the championship.

Yeah, Rip is real ticked off because he doesn't take enough mid range jumpers. :nerd2: It's all Saunders fault. :nerd2: Rip isn't responsible for his own behaviour. :nerd2:

What has happened is that Rip, like Ben, CB, Sheed have a sense of entitlement.

Deal with it folks. The team has changed personality from the moment they came back after winning a championship.

I'm not saying it isn't deserved, but that they do their talking with their mouths instead of their game. Legit superstars take it out on their opponent, and don't play mind games with themselves.

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So...if I get you right...you're saying Rip isn't legit?

Soooo, let's see here:

1) we had a 4 time DPOY with a HUGE work ethic and multiple All-Star appearances...left disgruntled to an EC foe

2) we have our leading scorer with a HUGE work ethic and 2 All-Star appearances...suddenly coming unglued just before the playoffs

And look how close we came in 05 with those guys under LB. I see a common denominator here and it ain't the 04 ring. How many superstars will Flip infuriate or burn out (KG) before you start to wonder what the deal is?

54 games & a 7th game in the finals vs. 64 games & no trip to the finals...which do you choose? Flip was riding LB's coat tails last year...until it came down to crunch time. And this years reg season tally? I'll be surprised if we hit 54.

Any team coach (including LB) that says he shouldn't have to coach effort is deluding themselves...again JMO.

Rip got roughed up the last few games he dressed, but I don't think anything major is going on with him. Getting technicals isn't anything new for Rip. He had 8, 10, and 9 technicals the last 3 years. That is probably equivalent to what he has now (13), when you factor in the league's new "no tolerance" rule.

Rip's scoring has gone down with the arrival of Webber. On the flip side, the Pistons are winning more. Detroit is 24-9 since CWebb was put into the starting lineup. That is a 60-win pace.

Yeah, Rip is real ticked off because he doesn't take enough mid range jumpers. :nerd2: It's all Saunders fault. :nerd2: Rip isn't responsible for his own behaviour. :nerd2:

What has happened is that Rip, like Ben, CB, Sheed have a sense of entitlement.

Deal with it folks. The team has changed personality from the moment they came back after winning a championship.

I'm not saying it isn't deserved, but that they do their talking with their mouths instead of their game. Legit superstars take it out on their opponent, and don't play mind games with themselves.

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I'm not even getting into this one again. I'm just enjoying how as we look less and less like contenders from year to year you guys simply find a new player to brand as the malcontent. It must have been really tough for LB to coach this band of whiny, complaining, lazy, inconsistent, self-absorbed group of team cancers to a title.

I'm not even getting into this one again. I'm just enjoying how as we look less and less like contenders from year to year you guys simply find a new player to brand as the malcontent. It must have been really tough for LB to coach this band of whiny, complaining, lazy, inconsistent, self-absorbed group of team cancers to a title.

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Wow, We shouldn't hold back. We need to tell it like it is with the Pistons. This read is tough, but probaby hits home. Maybe, that's why another poster wanted to blow up the team with a mostly restructured lineup for next season. I believe the playoffs will tell us what kind of team we really have. Again, be prepa red for no handshake after the playoff series that concludes our season...................

Again, be prepared for no handshake after the playoff series that concludes our season.............

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I would never predict this to happen. The Pistons seem to display pretty good sportsmanship. You see them frequently shaking hands and talking to opponents both before and after games, wins and losses. If anything, I think they might be too nice sometimes.

...Again, be prepa red for no handshake after the playoff series that concludes our season...................

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I don't think it really means anything anyway. I played organized sports from grade school through high school (probably 8-10 years of my life) and outside of blatant dirty play intent on injuring someone, no one cared about sportsmanship or handshakes. It was formality.

I don't think it really means anything anyway. I played organized sports from grade school through high school (probably 8-10 years of my life) and outside of blatant dirty play intent on injuring someone, no one cared about sportsmanship or handshakes. It was formality.

Winning? Now THAT's what people cared about.

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At the highest levels of competition, I agree that winning is the main priority. If a coach isn't teaching sportsmanship at the youth level, though, he is missing the point.

LB made that statement about coaching effort when he was with New York, NOT the Pistons!!! I'm almost pissed at the historical revisionist tendency to put words in people's mouths, etc to make OUR TEAM look bad. What is up with you people? The team is hot, they are not robots, and so not every game is the same, they have a few weaknesses, about which I think healthy debate is a great thing. Reading these posts an ousider would think our team is lottery-bound or something. Geez, we have the BEST RECORD IN THE EAST FOLKS. We have a WINNING ORGANIZATION, not just a winning team.

LB made that statement about coaching effort when he was with New York, NOT the Pistons!!! I'm almost pissed at the historical revisionist tendency to put words in people's mouths, etc to make OUR TEAM look bad. What is up with you people? The team is hot, they are not robots, and so not every game is the same, they have a few weaknesses, about which I think healthy debate is a great thing. Reading these posts an ousider would think our team is lottery-bound or something. Geez, we have the BEST RECORD IN THE EAST FOLKS. We have a WINNING ORGANIZATION, not just a winning team.

Anyway, I think I'm over my mini-rant there. GO PISTONS!!

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Perhaps you are guilty of your own accusation:

From January, 2005:

"I never thought I would have to coach effort,'' Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "I've never had to do that in my entire life, and this is the last group that I expected to have to do it with."